Although specifics of the proposal were left out during his Monday afternoon remarks at the AARP, the president slammed industry practices that may harm investors.

"There are a lot of very fine financial advisors out there, but there [are] also financial advisors who receive back-door payments or hidden fees for steering people into bad retirement investments that have high fees and low returns," Obama said in his push for a uniform fiduciary rule.

Blair H. duQuesnay, chief investment officer at RIA ThirtyNorth Investments in New Orleans, summed it up bluntly on Twitter: "Gauntlet thrown at brokers."

Here's what other advisors and industry experts had to say on Twitter and in comments online.

In response to a recent article on Financial Planning, Joe McCusker Sr., ChFC at RIA Celtic Consulting Services in Las Vegas, voiced support for the proposal and a redefinition of the term advisor, writing:

Today, I find myself agreeing with President Obama in the need for responsible definition of 'advisor' in the financial industry. For too many years the general public has been lied to by large investment houses and broker/dealers. If you are a broker you should be executing trades for clients not advising them. If you are an investment banker leave the individuals alone and work on the IPO's and M&A work that you intended when organized.

Another commenter posting under the name Matt B. agreed, noting that "free disclosure isnt a bad thing." He wrote:

The group they really need to crack down on is the Equity Indexed Annuity industry," Brown suggested. "That's where the real problem is. These guys aren't even required to have a securities license, and yet they discuss the market and make investment comparisons all the time. Talk about the blind leading the blind.